Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.
Parallel translations
- WEB Deal with your servant according to your loving kindness. Teach me your statutes.
- BSB Deal with Your servant according to Your loving devotion, and teach me Your statutes.
- NKJV Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, And teach me Your statutes.
- NASB Deal with Your servant according to Your graciousness, And teach me Your statutes.
- NLT I am your servant; deal with me in unfailing love, and teach me your decrees.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He asks God to deal with him according to His covenant love and to teach him His statutes. He seeks both mercy and instruction from God.
Overview
The psalmist pleads for treatment grounded in God's loving kindness rather than strict desert, joined with a request to be taught the statutes. Mercy and discipleship are sought together. This appeal to covenant love anticipates the gospel, where God deals with sinners according to grace in Christ and teaches them by His Spirit (Eph. 2:4-5; John 14:26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 119:12Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
- Dan 9:18O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
- Ps 103:10He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
- Ps 119:76–77Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.
- Ps 130:7Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
- Ps 69:13But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
- Ps 119:132Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
- Ps 51:1Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
- Ps 119:26I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
- Ps 69:16Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
- 2 Tim 1:16–18The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
- Luke 18:13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
- Neh 9:20Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.
- Ps 79:8O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
- Ps 119:41Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word.
- Ps 143:10–12Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
- Ps 130:3–4If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
Resources, by level
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 119:124 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.